78% MSMEs resume full operations post-Covid; 22% yet to fully resume – BudgiT Ghana
Majority (78%) of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have resumed full operations post-Covid, notes survey findings by Civil Society Organisation, BudgIT Ghana.
This is against some 22% of MSMEs that are yet to fully resume business operations post the pandemic.
The inability of these MSMEs to fully resume business operations is due to the adverse impact of the pandemic on the financial capacity of their businesses.
These businesses, the survey further points out, have drastically changed their business models to mostly hawking.
Per the survey findings, MSMEs that have fully resumed operations post-Covid have made changes to their business models to protect their businesses against the adverse impacts of the pandemic.
Some of the business models adopted by these MSMEs include diversification of markets, new product or service offerings and creating market partnerships.
According to BudgIT Ghana, businesses particularly MSMEs did not cope effectively during the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, asserting that businesses require more suitable resilience mechanisms to withstand adverse impacts of future pandemics.
“MSMEs have not only been forced to endure more cumulative and sustained shocks than ever before, but have also been pressured to rapidly develop strategies to cope, withstand and most importantly, to adapt to a new normal,” states BudgIT Ghana.
“Ghanaian MSMEs are ill-equipped and inadequately supported to better manage risks,” it adds.
To strengthen resiliency of MSMEs in the country, BudgIT Ghana has recommended to government to strengthen support for digitisation of MSMEs, promote access to markets for MSMEs, develop tailored targeted loan facilities for MSMEs, prioritise capacity-building/training of businesses, particularly women-owned businesses, among others.
About BudgIT Ghana
BudgIT Ghana, a civic organization that applies technology to intersect citizen engagement with institutional improvement to facilitate societal change has conducted research work on the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Ghanaian formal and informal sectors.
